The picture is depressing in relation to the number of applications for registration of new voters in the electoral list for the presidential elections, the Head of the Election Service, Dimitris Dimitriou, while for a week the Service has been intensively preparing for the elections, which will be announced on December 15. decree of the Minister of Interior, which will be published in the Official Gazette of the Republic.
Mr. Dimitriou stated to KYPE that until this morning the applications for registration of new voters amounted to 3.591, while in total the new voters amount to about 40 thousand.
The deadline for submitting an application for registration on the electoral roll is December 18. According to Mr. Dimitriou, on the last day that the registration deadline for the previous presidential elections expired, ie on January 2, 2013, more than 2.500 applications for new voters were received.
In total then in the quarter we had a total of about 16 thousand applications and half came in the last week. I hope that even last week the picture will change, although with the pace we are going I have the doubt whether we will go to a double-digit number of thousands, said Mr. Dimitriou.
Regarding the submission of applications for the exercise of the right to vote in centers that will operate abroad, the deadline for which also expires on the 18th of the month, Mr. Dimitriou said that there are already 4.000 registered applications, and that they will certainly more than 4.500, noting that they mainly concern students.
Mr. Dimitriou also said that "for a week we are entering an intensive pace of elections, since on the 15th of the month the elections are announced and on the 18th of the month the electoral list and the statements for the centers abroad are closed".
He also mentioned that on December 30, the day after the submission of the candidacies (December 29), a sample of the ballot paper will be ready, which will be examined with the parties, in order to start the work for their printing in the new year.
According to Mr. Dimitriou, the total number of voters is expected to exceed 550 thousand. Regarding the Turkish Cypriots, Mr. Dimitriou said that the number of registered was around 600 and within the last quarter there were 14 applications from new Turkish Cypriot voters.
It is noted that during the 2013 presidential elections the registered voters who had the right to vote were 545.491 and in the 2016 parliamentary elections 543.186.
Source: KYPE
Source: RIK News